Instructor’s Manual for Food and Culture 7e
Chapter 1: Food and Culture
Learning Objectives
1. List the fastest growing ethnic groups in the United States.
2. Define the “omnivore’s paradox.”
3. State the various symbolic meanings that can be assigned to food.
4. Discuss food choices as cultural identity.
5. Define etiquette and manners.
6. Distinguish among acculturation, enculturation, and assimilation.
7. List the components of the core and complementary foods model.
8. Define what is meant by flavor principles.
9. List the components of the developmental perspective of food culture.
Chapter Summary
America continues to be a changing demographic. Defining “American food”
and resolving the question “What is an American diet?” elude simple
answers. The population of America includes immigrants from Europe, Latin
America, the Middle East, China, and other Asian countries representing more
than seventy-five different ancestry groups as reported in 2007. In that year,
the fastest and largest growing ethnic groups in America were from Latin
America, but more recently Asians became the fastest growing race or ethnic
group. Each American ethnic, religious, or regional group has its own
culturally based food habits. The new immigrants interact with the overlying
American culture—with each changing the other.
Food is any substance that provides the nutrients necessary to maintain life
and growth when ingested. But humans eat meals, and we have developed
culturally significant ways of using these foods in cooking and other cultural
practices. These food habits become defined and codified within a culture.
Food habits constitute all the ways in which humans use food—including
,everything from how it is selected, obtained, and distributed to who prepares
it, serves it, and eats it, to how it is shared and consumed.
“The omnivore’s paradox” refers to the instinct in humans to experiment with
and sample new foods that occurs alongside a need for caution and a
preference for the familiar and safe. The ability to use a wide range of edible
foods from all of the climates of the world gives us an advantage as a
species. We also maintain food choices within a culture through ritual and
repetition. This conservative approach may help us to avoid poisoning
ourselves on new, toxic foods through communal caution.
Food can also be used as a form of self-identity. What foods we eat have a
special significance because eating involves a personal reflection of who we
are. We assign characteristics to people who eat in certain ways. We tend to
rate foods as being “good” or “bad” and often assign moral implications to
food choices. We adopt the same food preferences as the trusted or valued
others within our group. We demonstrate belongingness, status, and self-
realization through food choices based on what we have learned from our
culture.
Food also has symbolic meanings based on association with other meaningful
experiences. For example, bread can have a variety of meanings: bread as
the staff of life, breaking bread with friends, white bread indicating upper
class status, whole-wheat bread reflecting health as a value. These symbolic
meanings are associated with a cultural identity. It is the symbolic use of a
food that is valued most by people, not its nutritional value. Some food
choices are based on group affiliation—for example, not eating pork as part
of religious affiliation. Other symbolic meanings are learned in childhood
when we form associations that lead to relying on certain food choices as
“comfort food.” Diet may also help identify persons who are not a member of
a certain group or be the basis for food stereotyping.
Manners and etiquette are examples of having an “appropriate use of food”
as defined by our cultural affiliation. Manners vary between eating at home
and in public or dining in a business situation. Cultures vary regarding how
food is shared and how food relates to status and establishing class
relationships.
,“Culture” is the values, beliefs, attitudes, and practices accepted by
members of a group or community. Culture is learned—not inherited.
“Enculturation” is the process by which culturally specific language and
socialization practices are passed from generation to generation. “Ethnicity”
is the term for a cultural and social identity that includes shared behaviors,
food habits, dress, language, family structure, and often includes a religious
affiliation with a common history or location.
Acculturation is a dynamic process by which an ethnic group moves into a
new majority society and begins adopting the new society’s values and
habits. An individual becomes “bicultural” when the new culture is seen as a
complement to the original culture of origin. “Assimilation” is the process by
which people from one cultural group shed their ethnic identity and fully
merge into the majority culture. The term “ethnocentric” refers to a person
using his or her own values to evaluate the behavior of others, regarding his
or her own culture as superior to others.
As we look at how different cultural groups categorize foods, we can better
understand the process of assigning values to food. In America, we use five
food groups (as in the MyPlate icon) to demonstrate the value of science and
nutritional content. Numerous models are used to identify and understand
the role of food within a culture.
Another model identifies some foods as “core foods”: staples eaten on a daily
basis. Secondary foods are widely eaten but not daily. Peripheral foods are
eaten only now and then and are more characteristic of individual preference
rather than cultural habit. One hypothesis suggests the pairing of core and
secondary foods serves to provide adequate nutritional balance.
“Flavor principles” are the signature flavors that are associated with food
preparation within a culture. Central to a cultural cuisine are the
combinations of foods and the significance of flavor. Flavor is imparted by
geography and climate but primarily by preparation methods and seasoning.
Listed in the text are many very specific flavor principles associated with
individual cultures.
, We also look at the meal patterns and meal cycles within a culture to analyze
daily, weekly, and yearly use of food. Decoding these patterns and cycles
begins by understanding how different cultures distinguish a “meal” from a
“snack” and how “correct” sequencing within a meal is dictated. Other
cultural practices determine who serves the meal, what eating utensils are
used, and how much is appropriate to eat at what time.
The developmental perspective of food culture suggests how social dynamics
are paralleled by global trends in food, eating, and nutrition. With
globalization comes food consumerization. Modernization and technological
advances lead to food commoditization. As populations become more urban,
the previous connections are broken between what food is produced locally
and what is eaten in that region. As populations migrate, food habits are in
flux, as part of acculturation.
Personal preferences are influenced by food availability. Personal choices also
identify what is edible or inedible, which is one of the earliest ways to
describe diet. “Diet” is what a culture regards as what can be eaten and what
cannot or should not be eaten. The consumer food choice model includes
many interrelated factors influencing how and why an individual makes a
food selection at a given time. Taste is an important consideration as well as
cost, convenience, self-expression, self identity, gender, advertising, life
stage, state of health, and variety.
In a multicultural environment, it is imperative that we understand the
relationships between ethnic food choices and ethnic health disparities.
Research results regarding the effects of ethnicity and race on health status
can be misleading if other factors such as acculturation and socioeconomic
status are not sufficiently separated. Ethnicity can be a significant factor in
how certain diseases are developed, experienced, and ultimately resolved.
There are differences in rates of disease and death in cultural groups.
The United States of America is better described as a “tossed salad” rather
than a melting pot—different ingredients each still present but in a delicious,
complementary blend. The American omnivore’s paradox may be an even
more accurate description. Because we live in a country settled by
immigrants, perhaps we have a propensity towards variety and trying new
Chapter 1: Food and Culture
Learning Objectives
1. List the fastest growing ethnic groups in the United States.
2. Define the “omnivore’s paradox.”
3. State the various symbolic meanings that can be assigned to food.
4. Discuss food choices as cultural identity.
5. Define etiquette and manners.
6. Distinguish among acculturation, enculturation, and assimilation.
7. List the components of the core and complementary foods model.
8. Define what is meant by flavor principles.
9. List the components of the developmental perspective of food culture.
Chapter Summary
America continues to be a changing demographic. Defining “American food”
and resolving the question “What is an American diet?” elude simple
answers. The population of America includes immigrants from Europe, Latin
America, the Middle East, China, and other Asian countries representing more
than seventy-five different ancestry groups as reported in 2007. In that year,
the fastest and largest growing ethnic groups in America were from Latin
America, but more recently Asians became the fastest growing race or ethnic
group. Each American ethnic, religious, or regional group has its own
culturally based food habits. The new immigrants interact with the overlying
American culture—with each changing the other.
Food is any substance that provides the nutrients necessary to maintain life
and growth when ingested. But humans eat meals, and we have developed
culturally significant ways of using these foods in cooking and other cultural
practices. These food habits become defined and codified within a culture.
Food habits constitute all the ways in which humans use food—including
,everything from how it is selected, obtained, and distributed to who prepares
it, serves it, and eats it, to how it is shared and consumed.
“The omnivore’s paradox” refers to the instinct in humans to experiment with
and sample new foods that occurs alongside a need for caution and a
preference for the familiar and safe. The ability to use a wide range of edible
foods from all of the climates of the world gives us an advantage as a
species. We also maintain food choices within a culture through ritual and
repetition. This conservative approach may help us to avoid poisoning
ourselves on new, toxic foods through communal caution.
Food can also be used as a form of self-identity. What foods we eat have a
special significance because eating involves a personal reflection of who we
are. We assign characteristics to people who eat in certain ways. We tend to
rate foods as being “good” or “bad” and often assign moral implications to
food choices. We adopt the same food preferences as the trusted or valued
others within our group. We demonstrate belongingness, status, and self-
realization through food choices based on what we have learned from our
culture.
Food also has symbolic meanings based on association with other meaningful
experiences. For example, bread can have a variety of meanings: bread as
the staff of life, breaking bread with friends, white bread indicating upper
class status, whole-wheat bread reflecting health as a value. These symbolic
meanings are associated with a cultural identity. It is the symbolic use of a
food that is valued most by people, not its nutritional value. Some food
choices are based on group affiliation—for example, not eating pork as part
of religious affiliation. Other symbolic meanings are learned in childhood
when we form associations that lead to relying on certain food choices as
“comfort food.” Diet may also help identify persons who are not a member of
a certain group or be the basis for food stereotyping.
Manners and etiquette are examples of having an “appropriate use of food”
as defined by our cultural affiliation. Manners vary between eating at home
and in public or dining in a business situation. Cultures vary regarding how
food is shared and how food relates to status and establishing class
relationships.
,“Culture” is the values, beliefs, attitudes, and practices accepted by
members of a group or community. Culture is learned—not inherited.
“Enculturation” is the process by which culturally specific language and
socialization practices are passed from generation to generation. “Ethnicity”
is the term for a cultural and social identity that includes shared behaviors,
food habits, dress, language, family structure, and often includes a religious
affiliation with a common history or location.
Acculturation is a dynamic process by which an ethnic group moves into a
new majority society and begins adopting the new society’s values and
habits. An individual becomes “bicultural” when the new culture is seen as a
complement to the original culture of origin. “Assimilation” is the process by
which people from one cultural group shed their ethnic identity and fully
merge into the majority culture. The term “ethnocentric” refers to a person
using his or her own values to evaluate the behavior of others, regarding his
or her own culture as superior to others.
As we look at how different cultural groups categorize foods, we can better
understand the process of assigning values to food. In America, we use five
food groups (as in the MyPlate icon) to demonstrate the value of science and
nutritional content. Numerous models are used to identify and understand
the role of food within a culture.
Another model identifies some foods as “core foods”: staples eaten on a daily
basis. Secondary foods are widely eaten but not daily. Peripheral foods are
eaten only now and then and are more characteristic of individual preference
rather than cultural habit. One hypothesis suggests the pairing of core and
secondary foods serves to provide adequate nutritional balance.
“Flavor principles” are the signature flavors that are associated with food
preparation within a culture. Central to a cultural cuisine are the
combinations of foods and the significance of flavor. Flavor is imparted by
geography and climate but primarily by preparation methods and seasoning.
Listed in the text are many very specific flavor principles associated with
individual cultures.
, We also look at the meal patterns and meal cycles within a culture to analyze
daily, weekly, and yearly use of food. Decoding these patterns and cycles
begins by understanding how different cultures distinguish a “meal” from a
“snack” and how “correct” sequencing within a meal is dictated. Other
cultural practices determine who serves the meal, what eating utensils are
used, and how much is appropriate to eat at what time.
The developmental perspective of food culture suggests how social dynamics
are paralleled by global trends in food, eating, and nutrition. With
globalization comes food consumerization. Modernization and technological
advances lead to food commoditization. As populations become more urban,
the previous connections are broken between what food is produced locally
and what is eaten in that region. As populations migrate, food habits are in
flux, as part of acculturation.
Personal preferences are influenced by food availability. Personal choices also
identify what is edible or inedible, which is one of the earliest ways to
describe diet. “Diet” is what a culture regards as what can be eaten and what
cannot or should not be eaten. The consumer food choice model includes
many interrelated factors influencing how and why an individual makes a
food selection at a given time. Taste is an important consideration as well as
cost, convenience, self-expression, self identity, gender, advertising, life
stage, state of health, and variety.
In a multicultural environment, it is imperative that we understand the
relationships between ethnic food choices and ethnic health disparities.
Research results regarding the effects of ethnicity and race on health status
can be misleading if other factors such as acculturation and socioeconomic
status are not sufficiently separated. Ethnicity can be a significant factor in
how certain diseases are developed, experienced, and ultimately resolved.
There are differences in rates of disease and death in cultural groups.
The United States of America is better described as a “tossed salad” rather
than a melting pot—different ingredients each still present but in a delicious,
complementary blend. The American omnivore’s paradox may be an even
more accurate description. Because we live in a country settled by
immigrants, perhaps we have a propensity towards variety and trying new
